Vanderpump Rules executive producer addresses THOSE cast claims of interference – and reveals future of the Bravo show amid hiatus

As the future of Vanderpump Rules remains up in the air, the executive producer is addressing a number of disturbing claims.

Showrunner Alex Baskin responded to cast member Scheana Shay’s recent claims about fabricated storylines on the Bravo reality show when he appeared at Variety’s FYC TV Fest.

“I think that’s a quite dramatic, heightened story of what happened,” Baskin said Thursday on the “Reality Producers Tell All” panel.

His appearance came after Shay, 39, said on her Sheananigans podcast that Baskin “said the show wasn’t in a good place mid-season,” shortly before Scandoval took place in season 10.

“It was, you know, ‘X, Y and Z have to happen. Or we get a short season and the show gets canceled and that’s it,'” she recalled of the conversation.

“I think that was a pretty dramatic, comprehensive account of what happened,” Baskin said Thursday on the “Reality Producers Tell All” panel

“I think Lala and I felt a lot of pressure after that day when it was like, ‘Well, we don’t want the show to be canceled,” Shay added.

That led to her and Lala Kent confronting Tom Sandoval about his behavior and eventually helping expose his affair with Rachel Leviss.

Baskin claimed on Thursday’s panel that he “never” asked [the cast] to produce something’ for the show.

“We got the whole cast together and we thought we had reached a point in the season where I think they were being influenced by what was happening on social media,” he explained.

“We basically told them to drown out the noise and make the show they’d been making for the last 10 seasons — and that didn’t mean we asked them to produce anything.”

The EP continued, “It didn’t mean we gave them specific talking points. It just meant that we created a show that worked because everyone was rowing in the same direction and responding to each other.

“And we got rid of that,” Baskin said. “So we felt we had to intervene in that sense.”

He added that “in a few months we will have a clearer picture” of VPR’s future after Season 11 was “such an intense experience in such a short time frame.”

“I think we’ll do some analysis of what else we need to consider for the show – and that’s who’s returning and what the skin color of the cast looks like,” Baskin explains.

His appearance came after Shay said on her Sheananigans podcast that Baskin “said the show wasn’t in a good place mid-season,” shortly before Scandoval took place in season 10.

“It was, you know, ‘X, Y and Z have to happen.’ Or we get a short season and the show gets canceled and that’s it,'” she recalled of the conversation.

Baskin claimed on Thursday’s panel that he “never” asked [the cast] to produce something’ for the show

“I think everyone needs a little bit of time to live their lives, and then we can pick them up again in another place,” he added.

Baskin previously addressed “a lot of speculation” that the show will end after the recent season 11 reunion.

“People have written the final chapter of the show many times over and the show has continued,” Baskin told The Hollywood Reporter.

The final episode of last week’s three-part reunion special ended with an emotional flashback montage of the show’s eleven seasons, leading some fans to speculate that it could also serve as a series finale.

“So just because it’s a reflective moment that clearly marks the end of a chapter, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of the show,” Baskin explains.

“You see, there is still a lot of fertile ground and development in their lives,” he continued.

“We basically told them to drown out the noise and make the show they’d been making for the last 10 seasons — and that didn’t mean we were asking them to produce anything,” Baskin added.

“So I think it would be very premature that just because we’re really closing the book on Scandoval in a lot of ways — because it was this moment that blew everything up and stretched into the next season — doesn’t necessarily mean the show is over .’

After the exciting reunion special, the cast of Vanderpump Rules is taking a break from filming before heading into season 12.

Meanwhile, Bravo has not yet given Vanderpump Rules an official renewal.

Baskin noted that “all things are possible” when it comes to casting, as the hiatus could mean a change in faces if and when the show returns.

‘There is still a strong core. So I could see a version of most of the cast returning in full and then some notable additions,” he said.

“I think there’s plenty of life,” Baskin continued. ‘I don’t know exactly what form that will take. But that is certainly very possible.’

Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules is now streaming on Peacock.